


Between Worlds

by CupCakezys



Series: Universe Shenanigans [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: And Pink, Mirrors Are Doors Basically, Multiple Universes, One Shot, Seriously The Trees Are Orange, Strange Other World, Travel Through Said Multiple Universes, Will Possibly Continue In Another Story, and blue, i hope you all enjoy, writing this was fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:32:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7560253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupCakezys/pseuds/CupCakezys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The girl lived a horrible life. All she wanted to do was get away from everything. So it's no surprise when one day she finds herself running for her life, her enemies ruthlessly hunting her down. What did surprise her was when she found herself cornered. Horror welled within her and she stumbled, her head ramming into a stray mirror leaning against the wall. Instead of smashing it to pieces she continued falling and when she opened her eyes she found herself surrounded by pitch black darkness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Worlds

Falling, falling forever falling.

Darker, darker yet darker still.

It felt like an eternity.

Yet it was only a moment.

Then the light came.

And she opened her eyes to a new world.

*****

This new world was strange. Bright orange, pink and blue trees swayed in the soft wind. Pale green grass longer than she was tall stayed strangely still. She could faintly see brick houses at the bottom of a giant mountain, which seemed to almost glow with pale blue light. The sky was a pale pink, like sunset or sunrise, despite the fact that the sun was still high in the sky.

She wasn’t effected by any of it. It was like a glass wall stood between her and this new, fantastically strange world. She wanted nothing more than to smash the glass, break free before anyone from her world came after her. She forced herself to stand still.

It wouldn’t help anything if she pissed off The Ferrymen.

They creeped her out, but she tried her best not to show it. The Ferrymen were faceless beings that draped themselves in darkness. They reminded her of grim reapers, except their bodies were nothing but condensed shadows. Their voices scared her the most. They were a thousand quiet little whispers and a deafening roar all at once. She tried her best to mask her fear of them though. She wasn’t entirely sure what they would do if they knew how much they terrified her.

When she had first met one she had nearly wet herself. It seemed to emerge from the endless shadows that gathered in the space between worlds she had stumbled into. When it spoke she had to choke back a scream.

“How did you get here?” It had gargled out.

“I-I was running and-there was this mirror and-”

It cut her off. “You can’t be here. You need to leave. You are upsetting the balance.”

“NO!” She yelled. “I won’t go back there! You can’t make me.” She glared at the thing in front of her, refusing to back down despite how much she was shaking.

It slid closer. “You must. There is already one upsetting the balance, there can be no more. No more mistakes. The universes pay the price of your appearance here. So much damage has already been done by that one, anymore and there will be nothing. All universes will collapse until only darkness remains.” It shook its hood covered head. “The Ferrymen must keep everything in balance. You must return, and the other one must be found. It is the only way.”

“I could help you find that person!” She blurted out. She had no idea what the thing was talking about but she refused to go back. Not when she had finally escaped that hell. “By the sounds of it you haven’t had any luck finding them right? I could help.”

It seemed conflicted. The shadows moved around her and she shuddered. “It will upset the balance!” It insisted.

“But if I find and return them to their world quicker than you can, then won’t that make up for me being here?” She asked sweetly.

It went quiet for a long time and it wasn’t until later that she would realise it was communicating with the other Ferrymen. “Very well. You must find the other one within two weeks. If you do not you must return to your world.”

Her mouth went dry as she shook the memory from her mind. She waited patiently for one of the Ferrymen to appear and give her the okay to walk into the strange world before her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and turned to face the Ferryman behind her.

She got the impression it was glaring at her and mentally groaned. This was the one that didn’t like her. It was one of many that had opposed to her helping them in their search for the mysterious ‘other one’ that was disrupting their precious balance. She had refused to back down and eventually they all agreed to let her join in the search.

She turned her nose up to the shadow creature and motioned behind her. “I need to go to this world.”

“Why would the other one be there?” It spat.

She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Because it’s pretty, and pretty lures in humans just like that.” She snapped her fingers and spun back around. “Now if you don’t mind, time is of the essence.”

It made a hissing sound she realised was laughter. “Ah yes. You only have three more days left.”

She looked at it with one eyebrow cocked, unimpressed. “I’m aware. Now please let me through.”

With one final glare and a wave of its robed hand the glass wall bent and disappeared. She stepped through to the other side and took a deep breath. With a start she realised the air itself tasted like oranges.

*****

Turns out ‘pretty’ was a very good way to describe this world. Everything around her was soft and beautiful, the pale colours giving it a washed out look, though ‘washed out’ was far from what it felt like. In the past two hours she had found creatures of all different kinds, some she was familiar with and some that looked so strange she couldn’t even begin to describe them.

Finally she reached the village she had seen from the place between worlds. It was as lively as she had imagined. Short, pale people were going about their busy days without any knowledge of her or the other one she was sure was hiding amongst them somewhere. She made sure not to be seen as she creeped around the edge of the village, the Ferrymen’s words still ringing clear in her head.

“If you are to enter any world other than your own do not allow anyone else to see you.” It hissed “It will-”

“Upset the balance and destroy everything. I know. No one will see me, I promise.” She assured it.

“It would be best if you do not promise such things. Breaking a promise can have dire consequences.” It disappeared at that, fading into the blackness of the place between worlds.

She concentrated on the present and started as she saw something strange. A person that seemed less washed out then the rest was striding amongst the people of the town. The person had a long cloak obscuring their face and they seemed taller than anyone else in the village. She knew instantly this was the person she had been looking for. The Ferrymen hadn’t described the other one to her but had claimed she would know them when she saw them. They had been right.

She silently followed the cloaked figure through the busy market place, occasionally losing them but always finding them again. She was waiting for the perfect moment to grab them and force them into a secluded place without causing too much commotion. Finally the figure turned down a side street and she dashed forward, knocking them down a deserted alley way.

She landed on top of the figure, whom she could now tell was male. He grunted and kneed her in the stomach and she rolled off of him. They stood up simultaneously and she lunged forward to pull his hood off. His cloak fell to the floor and she choked on her surprise and stepped back.

Dirty blond hair that probably went down to his shoulders was tied up in a bun, the squished looking nose she was always teased for having, the bright blue eyes that demanded all the attention in the room. Everything was exactly the same. It was like staring into a mirror. Except he was a he and she was a she. So of course she knew his name without asking, but she did anyway.

“What’s your name?” Her voice was the quietest of whispers.

The look on his face told her he had figured it out too. “Jordan Alexander Defrone. Yours?”

“Jordan Alexander Defrone. Friends call me Alex.” She answered robotically.

“Well then Alex.” Jordan rocked on his heels and gave her a humourless grin. “What now?”

Alex was at a loss for words. “Now…” She stopped and took a deep breath, reminding herself of what it was she was here to do. “Now I hand you over.”

Jordan whistled and shook his head. “I’m not going back to that hell hole.”

Alex glared. “Neither am I.”

Jordan nodded. “Figured you’d say that. But I’m afraid I’m going to be harder to catch then you think.”

Alex lunged before he even finished speaking. She aimed a kick to his stomach and grunted as he blocked her. They exchanged more blows, Alex managing to land a kick to Jordan’s nose before they both moved back. Jordan whipped the blood from his nose and grinned at her.

“So you know how to fight!” He exclaimed, obviously delighted.

“I wouldn’t be standing here today if I didn’t.” Alex shifted nervously on her feet.

Jordan’s grin widened. “But do you know how to defend yourself?”

Without waiting for an answer he aimed a punch at her head and she quickly shifted into a defensive position. He was amazingly fast, easily throwing kicks and punches while moving out of reach whenever Alex tried to retaliate. Despite using all the tricks she had learned against him it wasn’t enough. It was almost as if he knew the moves as well as she did, which, when she thought about it, could very well be the reason.

Giving up wasn’t in Alex’s nature, but then there wasn’t much else she could do. There was no way she was going to win this fight. Her other self seemed so much stronger, faster and better than her.

Then she saw the mirror.

She had learned something interesting from The Ferrymen when she first started working with them. They told her the only way that she could have passed into the between world was if she had stepped through a mirror with the intention of entering the place between worlds. It seemed weird to her but it made sense. The last thing she remembered about her own world was running into a mirror.

Alex grinned and ducked beneath Jordan’s fist as it swung at her head. Rushing forward she grabbed him around the middle and shoved them both into the mirror.

*****

Falling, falling forever falling.

Darker, darker yet darker still.

It felt like an eternity.

Yet it was only a moment.

Then the light came.

And they opened their eyes to hooded shadows crouching over them.

*****

It was the first time in years Alex had screamed so loud. Beside her she heard her male counterpart yell a few choice words she knew would get her own mouth washed out with soap. Despite the dizziness that always came from entering the place between worlds she watched Jordan stand and stumble away from The Ferrymen surrounding them.

He started screaming at them, the panic in his voice nearing hysteria. “NO! I refuse to go back there! You can’t make me!” His voice dissolved into meaningless yelling as The Ferrymen closed in on him.

Alex almost felt sorry for him. The knowledge that if she stuck around she would be sent back to her own world as well was all that it took to get her legs under her. While The Ferrymen were busy trying to get Jordan under control Alex quietly moved backwards towards the glow of the world she had found Jordan in.

She was two steps away when she heard an unearthly screech. She spun around to see her other self being thrown back into his own world and several of The Ferrymen screeching as they rushed towards her.

In a panic she burst back into the world she had just left, the glass separating that world and the place between worlds shattering as she hit it. Alex hit the ground, hard. She rolled until she slammed into the wall of a nearby building. She lay there dazed for a minute, her entire body protesting when she lifted her head.

The mirror was completely smashed, shards of it littering the floor around it.

*****

Alex had heard something interesting from one of The Ferrymen once. It was something she was sure she wasn’t meant to hear, but she heard it anyway. Two of the shadow creatures were talking in hushed tones. Alex had gotten curious and snuck over. Suddenly one started yelling at the other and Alex had almost ran away there and then. She held her ground and concentrated on what they were saying.

“It’s having the second one here that’s messing everything up!” One hissed angrily.

“She is helping us find the missing one.” Another answered calmly.

“We do not required help!” It exploded. It stepped back at the dangerous vibe coming from the other Ferryman and calmed itself. “The other one does not even need to be found. The universes will be fine with just one outside of their original world. You Elders simply want them found to fix your wounded pride.”

Alex had rushed away, wide eyed and hoping. Hoping because now she had a way to live outside of her own horrible world without putting another at risk. All she had to do was return the other one to the world they had come from and escape The Ferrymen.

Alex smiled at the memory.

Now she was the one on the run from the guards of the infinite universes; the ones who called themselves The Ferrymen.

**Author's Note:**

> So hi guys!  
> I thought I might as well put this up here. This is a little story I wrote for a class at school not too long ago. I plan to do more with this, though future stories will focus on different people and some will be only loosely connected to each other.   
> Hopefully you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you're interested in reading some of my other stuff I do have a couple of other stories uploaded here. Let me know your thoughts on this story, comments are like oxygen to me.   
> Thank you all for reading!  
> ~Cupcakezys~


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